ABC 20/20, Friday (April 7, 2023) An open marriage, a secret affair and a sinister plot for murder
This episode of “ABC 20/20” airs tonight April 7 at 9PM ET. When Lauren McCluskey, a student-athlete at The University of Utah, met a bouncer at a local bar, it seemed like the start of a fairy-tale romance. However, Lauren’s friends grew concerned by his increasingly controlling behavior and urged her to stop seeing him. Soon after, Lauren discovered that her boyfriend wasn’t who he said he was ― his real name was Melvin Rowland, a 37-year-old sex offender who had recently been released from prison. Shocked and afraid, Lauren ended the relationship and contacted campus police when he began extorting and harassing her. After over a week of repeatedly asking campus police, local law enforcement and school officials for help, Lauren was kidnapped on her way back from class and later found dead in a car. In a new two-hour “20/20,” anchor David Muir and ESPN journalists T.J. Quinn and Nicole Noren explore the events leading up to Lauren’s murder and investigate the institutional failures of the systems she trusted to protect her.
This two-hour episode of “20/20” includes interviews with Lauren’s parents, Jill and Matt McCluskey; Sean Reyes, Utah attorney general; Miguel Deras, former campus police officer; former Utah Assistant Attorney General Paul Amann, who prosecuted Rowland for two sex crimes; and Megan Thomson, Rowland’s parole agent. The program also features interviews with Courtney Tanner, the lead Salt Lake Tribune reporter on the story; Todd Reed, former KTVX/ABC4 (Salt Lake City) news director; Diamond Jackson, Lauren’s university housing adviser and friend; two of Lauren’s closest friends; and a woman who dated Rowland.
“Unholy Matrimony“
You can watch next day on Hulu. Also, check out the official podcast at ABCAudio.
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